Re: Sound programs that would be good with screen readers

From: "Samara Raine" <samararaine@xxxxxxxxx>

To: <jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Date: Wed, 8 Jul 2009 19:26:05 -0400

I use audacity and it's quite a pain at times. You need to memorize the numbers
and it's a bit of trial and error-- the jaws curser does not always go where
you like it to. Just my experience. If you can get something easier, try it.
Audacity does have some great features though.
----- Original Message -----
From: Tom Lange
To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 6:41 PM
Subject: Re: Sound programs that would be good with screen readers
Hi Carol,
I'm really interested in some sort of multi-track recording software, too,
and have investigated this a little bit. In addition to Sonar and the other
programs that have been mentioned, there's also one called Audacity which is
supposed to work okay.
Be forewarned, though, that obtaining and installing accessible recording
software is only part of the battle. If you have a modern PC which has its
sound chips built into its motherboard, or if you use a cheap sound card which
has no real processing power, you will run into a serious problem while
attempting to record, as I have. The problem is called latency.
When the latency problem rears its ugly head, as it no doubt will, you'll
find that there's a significant delay between the instant when a note is played
or sung and when you actually hear it through your headphones or speakers. On
my system, the delay is at least a half-second or more. Even if you decide not
to monitor your recording, you will run into it again when laying down the
second and subsequent tracks, and it's going to be a real bear to synchronize
everything. Ask any serious recording enthusiast who uses a computer-based
setup and you'll be told in no uncertain terms that the only practical ways
around the latency issue involve installing and using a high-end sound card
with multiple inputs and outputs, and a serious tune-up session to reduce the
number of running background processes in order to further reduce the load on
the computer's processor.
That's about all I can tell you since that's what I've gathered so far in my
research into this, and I don't want to stray further off topic than I already
have and arouse the ire of the list moderator.
Good luck with this. Write me off-list if you get up and running. I want to
hear all about your setup.
Cheers!
Tom